Home Away From Home

I am home. I left My Boy at the beginning of a thunder and lightening storm. The weather took a change this evening. But we had great horsin' around weather all day. We got in a ride in the late morning, before it got too warm and muggy.

I worked on side passing. My Boy side passes well to the right, but has a tougher time going to the left. Which, coincidentally, is the side he is stiff on. Something to make a note of.

Here we are lined up over the log, ready to begin.

Can you see my short left leg just pushed into his side? Sometimes I feel like my legs are nothing but wet fettucini noodles pushing into a brick wall.

I am thankful my sister snapped these series of photos. Look at how my upper body is completely leaning to the left. Which way is my horse side passing? To the right. Which way should my torso and seat bones be leading him? To the right!

It was a good, mellow ride. The warm weather always makes my horse a bit lazy.

Did you know we have a tree that watches us while we ride?

I am sorry if you are having flashbacks of those scary trees from "The Wizard of Oz" right now.

This part of the arena fence line is starting to overgrow with temptation. How My Boy passes this section of rail without snagging a bite, is beyond me. But he does. Good boy.

After I rode, I hosed down My Boy and began to suds and condition his tail. I decided to wait on doing the full body bath until right before our guest ranch trip in August.

After air drying, I detangled My Boy's tail then took him out to graze. The grass in "the meadow" is about 4 ft. tall and beginning to seed right now.

The goats had been tethered out all day to enjoy the spring grass, as well. Later, I helped my sister put them away. It is always fun watching her do goat round-up, while I man the gate so the horses wouldn't escape. Last night, I tried helping with goat round-up and failed miserably. I had Ralph on the lead rope and he took off running towards the pasture. Goats do not stop when they are on leadrope. I should have let go but held on and then hit a hole in the grass and bit it. My sister said she wished she'd had the camera. I'd prefer that my less than stellar goat-wrangling skills not be caught on film at this point.

I visited with Edgar, one of my favorite goats. I love his little goat beard and his one nubbin horn. He is very personable.

Edgar has very interesting eyes. They are amber yellow and have a rectangular shaped pupil.

It was a productive visit to the Painted Creek. My sister and her boyfriend take good care of me. Yesterday I got a burger, fries, and chocolate shake for lunch. Homemade omelet for dinner. Today, a Butterfinger ice cream bar for a hot afternoon snack. And tonight before I left, BBQ baby back ribs and homemade fried potatoes with those little crunchy onion toppers on them. Goodness. With all the good food and my most favorite spotted in the world horse up there, why wouldn't I want to go back? Oh yes, heat up the waffle maker, I'll be back for the 4th of July!

Gettin' It Done

It's been a busy couple of days!

Whenever you are trying to get something done at my sister's farm, there is never a shortage of available helpers.

We hosed out the horse's boots and hung them to dry.

We also made it our mission to find my sister's Australian Shepherd dog, Sadie, a plastic kiddie wading pool. You see, Sadie loves the water. Due to the hot summertime weather, the creek bed on the property has dried out.

Sadie has the need to constantly get her feet wet. So we searched high and low for a pool. Every store was sold out. Even Walmart's warehouse was sold out. So we bought a different style than what we were looking for. This one had vinyl siding. It took lifting her in and giving her some doggie treats to help her understand it was an okay place for her to be. Then, we couldn't keep her out of it. She has been in and out of that pool on her own ever since. It was the best 16.99 investment in a dog's happiness my sister has ever made!

Since the pastures are dried out, it was time to do a spring rock-picking. Over the winter, since I couldn't get a wheelbarrow through the pasture mud, I would either toss rocks over the fence into the woods, or, make little rock pile formations near the bases of the pasture trees. Kind of Stonehenge artistic, no?

Ingredients for a successful rock-picking day are: 1. An apple picker:

2. A wheelbarrow and an Appaloosa assistant:

3. A really good prying stick. I got this rock out with some determination and a prying stick. See, wouldn't I make a good catch? Yes, a shovel probably would have been easier, but too long of a walk away. Besides, I pride myself on being resourceful.

That rock was my beauty of the day. I am thinking of entering it in the county fair.
By the way, I had to fire the assistant. He took way too many breaks.

Later, I got a workout in for My Boy. He was loping out well on the longe line without a saddle. No hopping. So I will be revisiting the saddle and equipment fit, and determining how the chiropractic assessment goes, before continuing work at the lope under saddle.

The last item on the agenda today was for my sister and her boyfriend to pick up some local grass hay. I tagged along and helped tally the bales. That was my very important job. Here is the field next to the field we got the hay from. The man was riding an ancient tractor yet it was putt-putting along, and the baler was spitting out bales. I have never seen this process before.
The fields were very peaceful, and the fresh hay smelled great.

Almost ready to go. They loaded the truck and trailer with 73 bales of hay. Uh, maybe. I hope I tallied them correctly!

One more day left at the Painted Creek. Tomorrow is a My Boy Only Day. I am hoping to get in a ride, bathe him, and put new shavings in his shed. I also need to pick up his blankets from the cleaners. And give him a big hug, of course. A cowgirl's work is never done.

And when I get back to my apartment, you should see the list of things I need to do there!